By J.R. Labbe
jrlabbe@ star-telegram.com
When Chinese bankers hold a large chunk of one's debt, one keeps it light when talking politics.
That's precisely the position the United States finds itself in when it comes to selling new F-16s to longtime ally Taiwan.
The Taipei government asked to purchase 66 F-16 C/Ds back in 2006. And by purchase, they mean with their own money.
This isn't the kind of financial shell game that gets played with nations that receive U.S. foreign aid and then turn around and buy our stuff with our money.
President George W. Bush was the first to put up a "no sale" sign on this transaction. Sadly, it's one of Bush's decisions that President Barack Obama agrees with.
Taiwan's existing fleet of about 140 F-16 A/Bs is old. Like early-1990s old.
The radar technology upgrade that the Obama administration is willing to approve is, at best, a temporary fix for a nation that worries about threats from Uncle Sam's banker -- a banker who has no use for a free Taiwan.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has tried for almost six years to get this deal closed. He butted heads with Bush and then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on it, and he's running into walls with the Obama administration.
Cornyn exercised his senatorial power to block the nomination of William Burns as deputy secretary of state until the release of a long-overdue report on Taiwan's air power capabilities to Congress.
It worked, sort of. The report was released, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the administration would review the Taiwanese request and have an answer by Oct. 1. Cornyn withdrew his hold.
One can't help but think Cornyn got played. Just before Vice President Joe Biden's trip to China last week, word leaked that the Taiwan F-16 sales are a no go.
Defense News claims the Obama administration was the one whispering the news to its Beijing bankers.
Cornyn is willing to play high-stakes Texas Hold 'em on behalf of democracy in the region and the thousands of jobs linked to F-16 production.
The U.S.-Taiwan Business Council commissioned a study by the Waco-based Perryman Group that found the Taiwanese order would create more than 87,000 person-years of U.S. employment. Texas represents the biggest chunk of those jobs.
"We're talking about lots of jobs that could be if not created then continued," Cornyn said Friday during a phone interview. "It seems that everything happening in Washington these days is conspiring against jobs."
Without the Taiwanese order, Fort Worth's F-16 assembly line could close in 2013. Lockheed is working to cultivate new buyers in Iraq and Oman, but those numbers are small compared to what Taipei wants.
The cavalry may be coming over the horizon. On Thursday, Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., co-chairmen of the Senate Taiwan Caucus, released a statement saying that any decision to update Taiwan's existing planes that doesn't include new airplanes is "unacceptable."
"While China is in the process of deploying next generation Chinese and Russian manufactured ships, fighter aircraft and submarines, Taiwan is losing the qualitative advantage in defensive arms that has long served as its primary military deterrent," the release said.
The Chinese like to present themselves publicly as Uncle Sam's docile trading partner and friendly banker, but they are developing their own J20 stealth fighter. China's military budget has grown nearly 70 percent -- in the last five years.
And the Chinese have told the United States to stop flying U2s above international waters. Two Chinese warplanes intercepted one of the American spy planes over the tense Taiwan Strait in June in China's most aggressive challenge to U.S. surveillance flights since a 2001 collision that touched off an international crisis, the
Washington Post reported.
"We are not living up to our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act to see that Taiwan has tools it needs to defend itself. We've gotten ourselves in a bad position in so many ways," Cornyn said. "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen says the biggest national security threat is our debt. And who owns the largest portion of that? The Chinese. They have got to be gleeful about this, seeing American weakness."
Of course, it's not just the Chinese who see signs of weakness. Don't think for one minute that other foreign governments haven't noticed.
Cornyn said Friday that he's not through with this. Could another Senate hold be in Cornyn's future?
"If they don't respond in the right way on these F-16 sales and continue to treat our allies this way, then, yes, I will be looking for other ways to get their attention and draw more visibility to this issue."
Jill "J.R." Labbe is editorial director of the Star-Telegram.817-390-7599 Twitter @jrlabbe55
Looking for comments?
